Sports, politics, and culture in seven succinct sections!

Multiple March Madness

Before you guys dissect my selections, know that I find it hard to ignore eastern teams in early rounds. Nonetheless I think I will have done pretty well.

II. Make America What Again?

If this picture is what Donald Trump and his supporters are looking for when they want to Make America Great Again, I would hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that train has left the station and will not be returning. Which is why Trump – who would be getting virtually no Latino votes, virtually no Black votes (despite the endorsement from Ben Carson) and a minority of women’s votes – would be extremely hard-pressed to win in November. When Mitt Romney has to call you out, it’s time to go sit down.

Perhaps this shot explains why Dr. Ben Carson has hitched himself to the runaway Trump train. By the way, did America only stop being great when the Black guy walked into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

III. Really?

Maybe Caitlyn needs to be a woman a little longer to get a better perspective on this…

IV. Respect

So just to be clear about this, Republicans wanted President Obama to attend Nancy Reagan’s funeral (which, of course, is not mandated by the Constitution) but don’t want him to nominate someone to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court? Someone please explain the logic of this to me.

V. Guns Don’t Kill People…

I guess it’s because I’m not a gun owner/shooter/lover that I’m crazy enough to believe that bad things seem to follow guns around. For the sake of this poor kid, I’m so glad his bad gun-owner mom remains alive, because otherwise he would have had an incredibly difficult time going forward dealing with the fact that he killed his mother.

VI. The Place For Politics

For a political junkie like myself, a depleted MSNBC still provides better election year coverage than the other networks, so cable Peacock, I’m forced to remain with you, but I’m not pleased.

I’ve not forgotten the departure of Keith Olbermann some years back, though time has allowed me to forgive you for that. I wasn’t at all in love with the moving – I’ll refrain from saying demotion – of Ed Schultz from weekdays to weekends, followed by the same happening with Al Sharpton. And now I’m totally ticked off at the series of events that has led to the departure of the brilliant Melissa Harris-Perry!

Thank goodness you still have Rachel Maddow…but what’s up with her being somewhat bumped out of the lead election night position in favor of Brian Williams, who is only there because of…let me leave that alone.

VII. More Hoop Picks

Since I don’t know Coach K or Jerry Colangelo of USA Basketball, I would love it if you would share this with them if you do, because I’ve been thinking about the makeup of the forthcoming Olympic Team. An Olympic team is often like an all-star team, comprised of twelve outstanding individual players that come together shortly before the games. With that said, there is no guarantee that twelve superstars automatically defeat a great team that is a cohesive unit used to working with one another.

So with that in mind, let me start with James Harden, Kevin Love, Dwight Howard, Kyrie Irving, and Paul George…who are among those I would not select…and I am a big fan of George, by the way. My idea for the Olympic roster is to pick 4 Golden State Warriors, namely Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. Obviously their team has been tremendously successful over the past couple of years, and what a weapon it would be for Coach K to be able to throw a virtual team in there together. To that foursome I would add Kawhi Leonard, as the Spurs and Warriors are both teams that feature ball movement on the offensive end.

The other seven players would be LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, both seeking their fourth Olympic appearance; Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant; centers DeAndre Jordan and DeMarcus Cousins; and Chris Paul. Cue up the Star Spangled Banner!